'Horse course can help job prospects' says outraged Furness teacher (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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'Horse course can help job prospects' says outraged Furness teacher
3:34pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in News
A FURNESS equestrian teacher has blasted a decision to strip thousands of vocational courses of GCSE status.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said this week that he wanted to downgrade vocational subjects which he claimed encourage young people to take courses that led nowhere.
The announcement follows a review of vocational education by Prof Alison Wolf, a public policy expert, who said pupils were being directed towards courses which did not teach ‘broad skills’.
Sheila Myers, of Bigland Hall equestrian centre at Newby Bridge, said she was ‘horrified’ that horse care would no longer count as a GCSE equivalent. Mrs Myers said her centre taught veterinary, mathematics and essay writing skills which leds to a ‘vast amount’ of well-paid jobs.
She pointed out that in the past decade local schools had been encouraging children who had not been successful with traditional subjects to take up a vocation.
“There is a vast amount of careers offered to students who have been successful in equestrianism,” said Mrs Myers, who teaches around 30 pupils a year.
“Quite a lot of the kids we have had may not have been doing that well at school but we have been able to turn their lives around.”
One of her graduates is now a farrier at Buckingham Palace and others have become riding instructors, paid wages comparable to teachers.
“The schools will no longer encourage students to take up subjects like horse care as they have to think about their league tables,” said Mrs Myers. “I can't believe the decision was made so quickly. There seems to have been no consultation.
“Subjects like performing arts, which have very limited job prospects, have remained as a GCSE where equestrian classes have been dropped.”
MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron said he was ‘very concerned’ about it. “It shows quite a snobbery towards certain subjects,” said Mr Farron. “The ministers involved don't seem to realise what life is like in the real world. Vocational courses might be marginal subjects but we live in a multi-skilled society and we need a work force that reflects that.”
He said he would discuss the matter in the House of Commons and was hopeful the final decision would not be as bleak as predicted.
worldsgonemad says...
3:48pm Wed 1 Feb 12
100 lines - I must learn to spell prospects correctly :)
I don't think it matters if courses like this count or not if the pupil genuinely has an interest in doing something like this as a career. Someone who doesn't want to work with horses isn't likely to want to do it anyway.
Personally I think there should be a fair way to portraying school measurable outcomes and just counting GCSE's or equivalents aren't fair.